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They found that intra-driver variability rather than interdriver variability accounts for a large part of the calibration errors. Siuhi and Kaseko appear to be the first to use the Next Generation SIMulation (NGSIM) vehicle trajectory data set to analyze vehicle-following behavior compound screening [6]. They calibrated the GHR model (without the Δt term in the follower’s velocity) using the data collected at the U.S. 101 Freeway in Los Angeles. They showed the distributions of Δt during acceleration and deceleration, with deceleration having a smaller mean Δt value. The same study also analyzed the distributions of m and k values and recommended

different sets of m and k values for acceleration and deceleration, respectively, even for the same drivers. The different Δt, m, and k values in acceleration and deceleration lead to the so-called asymmetric vehicle-following phenomenon.

Siuhi [5] affirmed that different Δt, m, and k values are necessary to also account for vehicle types of the leader and the follower. Wang et al. studied interdriver and intradriver heterogeneities using vehicle trajectory data collected at the A2 Motorway in Utrecht, the Netherlands [7]. They calibrated the Helly model, Gipps model, and Intelligent Driver model. They found that, for the majority of the drivers, (i) the Δt for deceleration was smaller than that for acceleration; (ii) when the same vehicle-following model was fitted to the data, the fitted parameter values for acceleration and deceleration conditions were different; and (iii) the best fitted model took different forms in acceleration and in deceleration. Ossen and Hoogendoorn presented the results of five vehicle-following models which were calibrated against vehicle trajectory data collected at the A2 Motorway in Utrecht and the A15 Motorway

in Rotterdam, the Netherlands [8]. They compared the models when a car was following a car and when a car was following a truck. Among the findings were (i) different vehicle-following models best fitted different passenger cars; (ii) truck tended to be driven in a relatively lower speed variance compared to passenger cars; and (iii) the desired headways are lower when a car was following a car compared to a car following a truck. Their findings showed interdriver heterogeneity between passenger cars and well as the heterogeneity depending on the leader’s vehicle type. The above recent studies GSK-3 have shown that heterogeneities in vehicle-following behavior exist (i) for the same follower during acceleration and deceleration; (ii) for the same follower, when the leaders are of different vehicle types; (iii) between different followers, even when the leader-follower pairs are of the same vehicle combination. 2.2. Self-Organizing Feature Map The SOM, introduced by Kohonen [20], is motivated by the self-organization characteristics of the human cerebral cortex.

in drug dose calculations with a similar MCQ test as the pretest. Sample size Studies testing drug dose calculations in nurses have shown a mean score of 75% (SD 15%).15–17 In a study with 14 questions, this is equivalent to a score of 10.5 (SD 2.1). To detect a difference of one correct answer between the two didactic methods with a strength of 0.8 and α<0.05, it was necessary to include 74 participants in each group. Owing to the likely dropouts, the aim was to randomise 180 participating nurses. Randomisation At inclusion, each nurse was stratified according to five workplaces: internal medicine, surgery or psychiatric wards in hospitals, and nursing home or ambulatory care in primary healthcare. Immediately after

submission of the pretest, the participants were randomised to one of the two didactic methods by predefined computer-generated lists for each stratum. Data collection Participant characteristics The following background characteristics were recorded: age; gender; childhood and education as a nurse in or outside of Norway; length of work experience as a nurse in at least a 50% part-time job; part-time job percentage in the past 12 months; present workplace in a specific hospital department (surgery, internal medicine or psychiatry) or primary healthcare (nursing home or ambulatory care); and frequency of drug dose calculation tasks at work, score 0–3: 0=less than monthly, 1=monthly, 2=weekly, 3=every working day. Further educational background was recorded (yes/no): mathematics beyond the first mandatory year at upper secondary school; other education prior to nursing; postgraduate specialisation and

courses in drug dose calculations during the past 3 years. The participants registered motivation for the courses in drug dose calculations, rated as 1=very unmotivated, 2=relatively unmotivated, 3=relatively motivated, 4=very motivated. In addition, the participants were asked to consider statements from GHQ 30, in the context of performing medication tasks: five regarding coping (finding life a struggle; being able to enjoy normal activities; feeling reasonably happy; getting scared or panicky for no good reason and being capable Carfilzomib of making decisions), and four regarding self-esteem/well-being (overall doing things well; satisfied with the way they have carried out their task; managing to keep busy and occupied; and managing as well as most people in the same situation). The ratings of these statements were 0–3: 0=more/better than usual, 1=as usual, 2=less/worse than usual and 3=much less/worse than usual; ‘as usual’ was defined as the normal state. Outcomes Drug dose calculation test and certainty in calculations A drug dose calculation test was performed before and after the course: 14 MCQs with four alternative answers.

Overall, there were significant differences between the four topics in knowledge and selleck chemicals llc risk of error both before and after the course, p<0.001 (Friedman's test). Sense of

coping or self-esteem/well-being was not affected by the course for either of the groups, data not shown. Table 3 Knowledge and high risk of error within each calculation topic before and after course Factors significantly associated with good learning outcome and reduction in the risk of error after the course are given in table 4. Among these factors, the randomisation to classroom teaching was significantly better in learning outcome, adjusted for other variables. Both low pretest knowledge and certainty score were associated with a reduced risk of error after the course, as were being a man and working in hospital. Self-evaluations of coping and self-esteem/well-being were neither associated with learning outcome nor with risk of error. The total R2 changes for the variables significantly

associated with good learning outcome and risk of error were 0.28 and 0.18, respectively. Table 4 Factors significantly associated with learning outcome and reduction in risk of error after course in drug dose calculations Course evaluation Nearly all (97.5%) of the participants stated a need for training courses in drug dose calculations. The evaluation after the course showed no difference between the didactic methods in the expressed degree of difficulty or course satisfaction, data not shown. The specific value of the course for working situations was scored 3.1 (0.7) in the e-learning group and 2.7 (0.7) in the classroom group (p<0.001). Auxiliary analyses A post hoc analysis for subgroups with a pretest knowledge score ≥9 and <9 is given in the lower part of table 2. For participants with a low prescore, classroom teaching gave a significantly better learning outcome and reduced risk of error after the course. The overall knowledge score improved in the high score group from 11.6 (1.4) to 12.0 (1.9) and in the low score group from 7.2 (1.0) to 9.9 (2.3), and the difference

in learning outcome was highly significant (p<0.001). Discussion Drug Cilengitide dose calculation skills The study was not able to demonstrate an overall difference in learning outcome between the two didactic methods, either of statistical or clinical importance. Both methods resulted in improvement of drug dose calculations after the course, although the learning outcome was smaller than what was defined as clinically relevant. Adjusted for other contributing factors for learning outcome in the multivariable analysis, the classroom method was statistically superior to e-learning, and so was the case for a subgroup with a low pretest result. This finding from the post hoc analysis was probably the only outcome that could have a meaningful practical implication for choice of learning strategy, if reproduced in new studies.

EQUIPT has a dedicated work package on dissemination of findings. The ROI tools will be available for selleck chemical public download through the project’s website (http://equipt.ensp.org)

together with the accompanying User Guide, Technical Reports and worked-out examples. This will form the part of e-learning resources. The major analytical findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, presentations in conferences, policy briefs and media briefs. Status of study EQUIPT is a 3-year project that started on 1 October 2013 and will end on 30 September 2016. Discussion EQUIPT is a rare multidisciplinary study designed to test the transferability of economic evidence

around tobacco control and will provide evidence-based, practical and customisable ROI tools to actual decision-makers. The findings are expected to promote and disseminate the ROI methods and results to foster evidence-driven decision-making on comprehensive tobacco control across Europe. The primary aim of transferring comparative effectiveness data to other countries is to make timely and sensible policy recommendations, even in the absence of relevant evidence for the country of interest. This is especially beneficial for countries with fewer analytical resources, where there is a lack of relevant input data to adapt the ROI model and in which there is a higher potential

to save life years from tobacco control and quit support strategies.12 There is a limited understanding of the causes of variability in cost-effectiveness data, and this presents a key barrier to the transferability of the economic evaluation results.9 27 Some authors suggest that “there is a lack of empirical studies which prevents stronger conclusions regarding which transferability factors are most important to consider and under which circumstances.”11 Nevertheless, the transfer of evidence to other countries may be possible if: (1) we identify those factors which cause the most variability in the relative success of tobacco control and quit-support strategies across countries and (2) the countries of interest are appropriately reflected in the existing data.10 Adapting an economic model may Drug_discovery require an evaluation of those model components that are similar across countries (core components) and those that vary between countries (country-specific components). For example, the EUnetHTA programme “attempt[s] to define and standardise elements of an HTA” by dividing relevant information on the technology under assessment “into standardised pieces, each of which describing one or more aspects of the technology that is likely to be useful when considering the adoption or rejection of the technology.

As usually performed by pharmacists, we recorded Refills-Rx as 99 if the physician specified the duration of validity of the prescription instead of the number of refills allowed on the original prescription. Using the dosage phase 3 and the canister size of ICS prescribed, we calculated

the days’ supply (days-supply-Rx), that is, the number of days the dispensed inhaler will last at the prescribed daily dose. When the dosage was variable (as needed/step-up or step-down therapy/asthma action plans), we considered the maximum number of puffs of ICS prescribed per day to calculate the days-supply-Rx. Prescription claims data were retrieved from the PER, which includes information on medications dispensed to patients in the community. Data recorded in the PER are electronically transferred to the RAMQ public prescription claims database and to the claims databases of private insurance companies for reimbursement purposes. Among other variables, the PER includes the days’ supply (days-supply-PER) and the number of refills allowed (refills-PER) as recorded by the pharmacist. Refills-PER is recorded at zero if no refills are allowed or at 99 if the prescription specifies a duration of validity instead of a number

of refills allowed. In the latter case, the pharmacist will also record the date corresponding to the end of the prescription period in the PER. It is worth noting that the dosage cannot be obtained from the RAMQ prescription claims database, which means it is necessary

to rely on the variable days-supply-PER for days’ supply and adherence assessment. Participant selection and data collection for sample 1 We first selected a representative sample, stratified by age and drug insurance type, of 1200 ICS prescriptions (beclomethasone, budesonide, ciclesonide, fluticasone, budesonide/formoterol, fluticasone/salmeterol) dispensed to patients across 40 pharmacies in Québec between Drug_discovery January 2009 and March 2012. We chose to select the pharmacies from the nine most populated administrative regions in Québec based on the complete list of pharmacies obtained from the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec. We determined the number of pharmacies to be included in proportion to the population density of each region. Then for each region-specific list, we applied the systematic sampling method to select the pharmacies, with a random start and where the sampling interval (the ‘skip’) corresponds to the total number of pharmacies in each region divided by the number of pharmacies to be included. If the selected pharmacy refused to participate, we asked the next pharmacy on the region-specific list to participate.

EPIC aimed to investigate PPI in a cohort of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) funded HTC by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme between 2006 and 2010. We have described the methods in full elsewhere.22 In summary, EPIC comprised four phases. Phase 1 examined trialists’ plans for PPI as described within their outline and full funding applications. Phase 2 was a questionnaire survey of CIs’ and PPI contributors’ opinions and activities concerning PPI. Phase 3 involved qualitative interviews with CIs, PPI contributors and trial managers (TMs). Phase 4 examined the role of clinical trials units in identifying and supporting PPI activity

in trials. The current paper draws mostly on data from phases 1 and 3 and, to a lesser extent, phase 2. EPIC had a patient advisory group, consisting of five people with experience of being a patient or a carer, previous PPI contribution in trials and lay review of funding applications and membership of funding panels. The National Research Ethics

Service (NRES) advised that EPIC did not require NRES ethics approval; we therefore sought and obtained a favourable ethical opinion from the University of Liverpool Research Ethics Committee (Ref: RETH000489). Sampling and recruitment for semistructured interviews We emailed CIs at the address given on their grant application form. We aimed for a diverse sample of CIs for interview, based on their responses to questions within the CI survey concerning motivations for including PPI and its perceived impact, although we ultimately invited all but three of the CIs who had responded to

the survey and expressed an interest in being interviewed. Three CIs were not invited because of delays in responding to the survey. We identified and invited PPI contributors to be interviewed through the CIs, chairs of steering committees and advertisements on PPI websites. Potential informants were sent an email with an information leaflet which included the purpose of the qualitative study. LD conducted semistructured telephone interviews with informants between April and November 2013, seeking their views and experiences of PPI within their trial. The interviewer had a BSc and Brefeldin_A MRes in psychology, and previous experience and training of conducting and analysing qualitative interviews. Apart from the recruitment emails, the interviewer had not established a relationship with the participants prior to the start of the study. LD was new to the field of patient involvement in research and sought to maintain an open-minded approach in exploring its implementation in trials. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, anonymised and checked for accuracy. The interviewer used topic guides which were reviewed by our patient advisory group, and developed in light of ongoing data analysis.

25 Women with diabetes are also at risk of other comorbidities, most commonly obesity.26 27 In turn, obese women28 and obese women with diabetes29 are less likely to successfully breastfeed. Separation of mother and infant following caesarean birth (also more likely in women with diabetes in pregnancy27 30) and/or admission to special and Tofacitinib supplier neonatal intensive care units (SCN/NICU) further decreases the likelihood of establishing breastfeeding.31 32 Since infants of women

with diabetes are at increased risk of hypoglycaemia,10 they require blood glucose monitoring and are often admitted to the SCN. If infants are hypoglycaemic and their mother is unable to provide a sufficient volume of expressed breast milk in addition to breastfeeding,

they may receive supplementation with infant formula or intravenous glucose. This has led to a practice whereby some women with diabetes in pregnancy are being advised to express breast milk before their infant’s birth. Current practice Increasing numbers of maternity providers are encouraging pregnant women with diabetes to express and store breast milk (colostrum) in the last weeks before their expected delivery date,33–38 so that breast milk is available in the postpartum period, thereby possibly avoiding infant formula if neonatal hypoglycaemia needs management with supplementary formula

feeding. Some organisations have implemented guidelines for antenatal expressing of colostrum,39 40 and in a recent book for consumers, there is a section entitled “Getting a head start: expressing milk before your baby is born” (ref.41, p.57). This practice presupposes that establishing a supply of colostrum prebirth might ameliorate: (1) the number of infants of women with diabetes who receive infant formula or intravenous glucose if supplementary feeding is required to treat neonatal hypoglycaemia (stored colostrum could be used); (2) the delay in lactogenesis II in women with diabetes and (3) the number of infants of women with diabetes admitted to the SCN. These Dacomitinib recommendations for practice have not been investigated and are therefore theoretical, and there is very limited evidence regarding the safety or efficacy of encouraging antenatal expressing of breast milk. The evidence A retrospective cohort study from the UK included 94 women, and found that infants of women with diabetes who expressed were born 1 week earlier on average (37.1 weeks (SD 2.6), compared with 38.2 weeks (SD 2.2), p=0.06), and were more likely to be admitted to the SCN.42 We conducted a pilot study in 2007 that also provided some evidence, and provided the baseline data to undertake the proposed randomised controlled trial (RCT).

ICC estimates >0.75 were considered as good reliability scores, between 0.50 and 0.75 as moderate reliability, and

<0.50 as poor reliability.31 Second, the Bland and Altman Method was used to assess agreement on scores of PA from the first and second administrations.32 Variables used for the Bland and Altman selleck products analysis were weekly time spent in moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA), total PA and sitting. MVPA was computed by summing the total min/week of reported PA of moderate and vigorous intensities across all four domains. For total PA, the total min/week of activities in each domain was summed (total work+total transport+total domestic+total leisure-time min/week scores) to gain an overall estimate of PA in a week. Also, the

independent t test and one-way ANOVA were used as appropriate to compare the time spent (min/week) in PA at both administrations across sociodemographic subgroups. To assess construct validity, the non-parametric Spearman correlation coefficients (r) were utilised to explore the relationship between MET-min/week of PA from the Hausa IPAQ-LF, and resting blood pressure and BMI. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), V.15.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois, USA) and the level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results The sociodemographic characteristic of the participants are shown in table 1. The participants comprised equally of women and men, with a mean age of 35.6±10.3 years and BMI of 23.8±3.9 kg/m2. The majority of the participants were married (58.9%, n=106), had more than secondary school education (62.7%, n=111) and were employed (75%, n=117). Compared to men, the women were more likely to be married (71.1% vs 46.7%, p=0.001) and unemployed (52.2% vs 17.8%, p<0.001), but men were more likely to have more than secondary school education (76.7% vs 48.2%, p<0.001). Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of the participants (N=180) Reliability Table 2 shows the test–retest reliability of the modified IPAQ-LF. Overall, reliability coefficients were good (ICC

>75) for total PA, occupational PA, active transportation and vigorous intensity (very hard) PA. Domestic PA, sitting activity and Brefeldin_A leisure PA demonstrated moderate reliability (ICC ranges from 0.51 to 0.71). While the reliability coefficients of total PA (ICC=0.80, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.87), active transportation (ICC=0.83, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.89), occupational PA (ICC=0.78, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.85) and leisure time PA (ICC=0.75, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.84) were substantially higher among men than women, reliability coefficients for domestic PA (ICC=0.38, 95%, CI 0.01 to 0.57) and sitting time (ICC=0.71, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.85) were higher among women than men. According to the intensity of PA, ICCs range between 0.61 and 0.82, with the lowest value recorded for moderate intensity (hard) PA and the highest value for vigorous intensity (very hard) PA.

Figure 1 Hierarchical theoretical model for the relationship between socioeconomic position (SEP) earlier in life and self-rated health (SRH) in adulthood. Pró-Saúde Study, selleck chemicals llc 1999. Statistical analysis The association between early SEP and adult SRH was evaluated through ordinal logistic regression analysis using a proportional odds model. The ordinal regression method has some analytical advantages: it maintains the inherent ordinality of the outcome’s (SRH) answer options and estimates a

single OR, which summarises the association, assuming that this is homogeneous for the different cut-points that separate the levels of the outcome variable.30 Initially, ordinal models adjusted for age, gender and colour/race were fitted and ORs of worst SRH were estimated (‘fair or poor’ vs ‘good’+‘very good’; ‘fair or poor’+‘good’ vs ‘very good’) for each of the seven early SEP indicators (model 1). Variables of which the likelihood-ratio test was significant (p<0.05) in model 1 were included in a full model from which they were removed one at a time through backward selection procedure. Starting with the variable with the highest p value,

non-significant (p≥0.05) variables were removed until a final model was obtained (model 2). Finally, in order to investigate the influence of adult SEP characteristics on the association

between early SEP and adult SRH, education level and income were included in the final model, both separately (models 3 and 4) and simultaneously (model 5). The assumption of proportionality of the odds was evaluated by the Brant test for the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the coefficients associated with the levels of the outcome variable.31 This assumption was violated for the variable “type of area at the age of 12”. Thus, a generalised ordered logistic model was fitted, and two distinct ORs were estimated for each level of the outcome: (1) ‘fair or poor’ versus ‘good’+‘very good’ and (2) ‘fair or poor’+‘good’ versus ‘very good.’ All analyses were performed in Stata (version IC/11.1; Stata Corp, College Station, USA). Results The group studied was mostly Brefeldin_A female (55.5%) and predominantly young adults, with a mean age of 39.3 years (table 1). Over 50% classified themselves as white, and about 45% had completed undergraduate or postgraduate education. The average household per capita monthly income was US$468. Early socioeconomic characteristics indicated low parental education level, particularly maternal education, and approximately 40% reported that their mothers had five or more children.

2. Patients and Method This is a retrospective, cross-sectional, and descriptive study related to BU cases observed over a period of ten years (i.e., from 2003 to 2013). This study was conducted in the Dermatology Department of the University Teaching Hospital of Treichville which is the reference centre

for cutaneous pathologies in Abidjan selleck Imatinib and served as the head office of the PNUM. We included patients, irrespective of their gender and age, who over the study period developed an unusual (atypical) ulcer or a nodule clinically evoking Mycobacterium ulcerans. We considered, as the usual or typical site of BU, any ulcer that is found on the limbs and more specifically on lower limbs. However, any site, other than the limb, is said to be unusual, atypical, or misleading. The subject matter of this study is unusual sites. The BU was diagnosed on the basis of clinical and paraclinical arguments. With regard to clinical aspects, we considered the existence of the following: (i) manifestations which evoke the inception of a BU: nodule, oedema, and infiltrated plate, (ii) at latter stage, the characteristic ulceration with its thickened, devitalized, and peeled edges, surpassing the base. With regard to paraclinical aspects, there should be at least the result of

one of the following examinations: the histology of a nodule, an oedema, or an infiltrated plate with Ziehl-Neelsen stain; the smear conducted from the exudates of the ulceration edges with Ziehl-Neelsen stain; the PCR (polymerase

chain reaction) conducted on the exudate. Cutaneous biopsies were conducted at the Department of Dermatology and plates were read in the anatomic pathology laboratory of the same University Teaching Hospital. The smear and PCR were conducted by the “Institut Pasteur of Côte d’Ivoire.” The histology was revelatory of a BU case if an infiltrate of lymphocyte, histiocytosis, and hypodermic necrosis were found or if AFB (acid-alcohol-fast Bacilli) were revealed by the Ziehl-Neelsen stain method. With regard to smear, a positive Ziehl-Neelsen stain was considered as a potential BU case. However, when the Ziehl-Neelsen GSK-3 stain was negative, a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) was conducted on the sampling in order to confirm the diagnosis. The smear and histology are less expensive but they have an average sensibility. Moreover, such examinations have a poor specificity and do not permit discriminating mycobacteria. With regard to PCR, its sensibility and specificity are above 90%. On the basis of clinical and paraclinical arguments, we collected in all 213BU records comprising classic sites as well as unusual sites. We did not include in this study all the incomplete records which had no paraclinical data. 3. Results 3.1. Overall Incidence of BU during the Study Period During the study period, we recorded in the whole department 42495 patients who came for consultation for various dermatosis.